Feb. 19, 2018
11:38 pm JST

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said that his country was to operate with Russia in any move he might take against the self-administered Kurdish district of Afrin in northwestern Syria.

Erdogan told the mainstream Hurriyet newspaper that Turkey was “in solidarity with Russia on Idlib. This [deal] will also cover Afrin because Afrin could present threats to us at any moment.

Such an ambitious operation could not have been possible without Russia's explicit approval.

First of all, the operation required the Turkish Air Force to enter Syria's airspace - something Ankara could not have done without consulting Russia. Furthermore, before rechannelling Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces to Afrin, Ankara needed assurances from Russia that Bashar al-Assad would not take advantage of the situation and attempt to seize Turkish-controlled positions in the province of Idlib.

Since Assad already called Turkey's Afrin offensive as 'support for terrorism', that puts there Russia and Assad on opposing sides

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